THE ROLE OF DNA TESTING

Presently 26 states have laws or pending legislation on post-conviction testing which allow inmates convicted of a felony to have their DNA tested. Ohio passed S.B. 11 in the summer of 2003 with these qualifications: inmate must not have had an earlier test with a definite result; application for the test by people already on death row must be made within a year of the law's enactment: prosecuting attorney must give permission for the test within 45 days of receiving the test application; prosecutor's decision cannot be appealed; there must be some expectation that testing will exonerate the inmate; and a satisfactory parent sample must be available for testing. The state must keep both the parent sample and the inmate's sample for two years after the release or execution of the inmate. Ohio crime labs have a huge backlog of tests to be performed. If the Innocence Protection Act of 2003 is passed (see Federal and State Statutory Safeguards Are Sufficient to Insure Justice, page 45), a portion of the bill's one billion dollars will be available over five years to states to help with the backlog. Indeed, DNA testing has been a factor in proving the innocence of at least a dozen death row inmates since its use in court. In Ohio seven inmates have had the test, but none was proved innocent.

The time may come when policemen will routinely carry a DNA analyzer on their belts. Testing can result in fewer wrongful convictions, and also assure that the true murderer does not remain free to murder again.

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